Why Can't Energy Secretary Chu Even Say, 'Sorry' for Solyndra?

Energy Secretary Steven Chu has outdone the doctor who declares the operation a success although the patient died. Chu won’t even say he’s sorry for the loss.

The corpse here is the $535 million loan given to Solyndra, the solar company whose business model relied on massive infusions of cash from the White House. The firm is defunct, the cash is gone to money heaven, and Chu can only say it’s “unfortunate.”

In five hours of congressional testimony, he refused to apologize for wasting so much taxpayer dough.

Then again, by his reckoning, he did nothing wrong. He effectively described himself as a hands-off manager of a vast portfolio of government investments. Losers are to be expected, he said, a sly co-opting of market lingo, with the important caveat that his losers are funded with public money.

Chu’s claim to fame is that he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. He should stick to physics and leave finance to experts. Or spend his own money the next time he wants to invest.

Michael Goodwin is a Fox News contributor. To continue reading his column on other topics, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Occupy Wall Street, click here.